I think the difference would be if you bought a mobo that only supported 66 FSB, and then tried to run a 100 FSB chip on it.
A more current example is my current mobo (which is a couple years old), which has the VIA KT266A chipset. It only goes up to a 133 FSB (266 DDR RAM). I'm SOL for all new chips with faster FSB's even though someone buying a new mobo could run the slower chips.
If you were to buy the LGA775 mobo now, you'd have to go with the 915 or 925 chipset, which AFAIK only supports 800 FSB. Later, when a 1066 FSB chip comes out, Intel will have a new chipset to go with it (that's my understanding anyway) which would force you to get a new mobo with that new chipset if you wanted the faster FSB.
So, how soon are you looking to upgrade? Could you buy a replacement HDD now and then upgrade later when this stuff is settled? Also, how much are you willing to spend? I see a couple options for AMD stuff (since that's what I've been following most lately) and that would be a 754 Mobo with either an A64 2800+ or perhaps a Sempron 3100+ when they are available. The sempron would be a good initial chip for the 754 mobo because it would be relatively inexpensive and would give you room to upgrade in a couple years to something like an A64 3700+ (perhaps when 64 bit takes off).
As far as Intel goes, the p4 2.8 seems like a very capable chip, and should leave room to upgrade a bit.
Good luck!
-D'oh!
A more current example is my current mobo (which is a couple years old), which has the VIA KT266A chipset. It only goes up to a 133 FSB (266 DDR RAM). I'm SOL for all new chips with faster FSB's even though someone buying a new mobo could run the slower chips.
If you were to buy the LGA775 mobo now, you'd have to go with the 915 or 925 chipset, which AFAIK only supports 800 FSB. Later, when a 1066 FSB chip comes out, Intel will have a new chipset to go with it (that's my understanding anyway) which would force you to get a new mobo with that new chipset if you wanted the faster FSB.
So, how soon are you looking to upgrade? Could you buy a replacement HDD now and then upgrade later when this stuff is settled? Also, how much are you willing to spend? I see a couple options for AMD stuff (since that's what I've been following most lately) and that would be a 754 Mobo with either an A64 2800+ or perhaps a Sempron 3100+ when they are available. The sempron would be a good initial chip for the 754 mobo because it would be relatively inexpensive and would give you room to upgrade in a couple years to something like an A64 3700+ (perhaps when 64 bit takes off).
As far as Intel goes, the p4 2.8 seems like a very capable chip, and should leave room to upgrade a bit.
Good luck!
-D'oh!
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